Comcast Corporation $CMCSA Stock: Howard Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings

Howard Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 119.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 395,117 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 214,845 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $8,598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Comcast by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,332,228 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,295,200,000 after buying an additional 3,952,642 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Comcast by 10.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 40,864,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,173,232,000 after buying an additional 3,783,234 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,461,308 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $845,919,000 after acquiring an additional 507,097 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,677,870 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $468,612,000 after acquiring an additional 2,573,360 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 13,797,091 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $404,414,000 after acquiring an additional 4,175,418 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $21.90. 29,589,305 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 32,739,894. Comcast Corporation has a 52 week low of $20.48 and a 52 week high of $32.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $77.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $29.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.24 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 8.97% and a return on equity of 14.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 7th. Comcast’s payout ratio is 42.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CMCSA. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Comcast from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $37.00) on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $30.00 to $27.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 price target (down from $32.00) on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.81.

Comcast Profile

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a global media and communications company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its businesses include broadband internet, wireless services, video, voice, and business connectivity services, primarily marketed under the Xfinity brand in the United States. Comcast also provides advertising and related technology services to businesses and media organizations.

Through NBCUniversal, Comcast operates national and local television networks, broadcast network NBC, Spanish-language network Telemundo, the Peacock streaming service, and a portfolio of film and television production businesses.